Solidarity with protesting Indian students from 19 foreign universities, including in the US. There also need to be protest rallies across the world where we can link genocide & fascism in Kashmir to the Indian protests against Indian fascism.
Monthly Archives: December 2019
Hindtuva is a pernicious ideology. What happened to ‘first do no harm’ from Hippocrates work on epidemics? This is reminiscent of Dr. Mengele & the many other German Nazi doctors who conducted experiments on Jews in concentration camps.
https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/jamia-millia-islamia-cab-caa-aiims-student-protest?
A long time ago, a Kashmiri police officer sent me a friend request. We had several mutual friends but when I’m reading report after report of Kashmiri police attacking protesters I’m not interested to going all buddy-buddy with one of them. Every once in a while, I’d look at his request & wonder if I was being intolerant; just maybe he was one of the good guys. But he’s in a command structure & if they tell him to hunt down protesters, he has to follow orders. I went looking to finally delete the request but he must have pulled it back. There’s a new Modi sheriff in town & it might not be good to be my friend when India wants me thrown off social media.
“If Indian police can storm a university in the capital; thrash and sexually assault students without a care in the world, imagine what has been going on in Kashmir where 700,000 soldiers, paramilitary & police have permission to operate with impunity amid an Internet blockade.”
–Masroor Wani
The important political role of Kashmiris living outside Kashmir has never been more apparent. We haven’t always understood how vital their role is in educating about their struggle & in building a solidarity movement. They are a living link to those Kashmiris not allowed to speak for themselves & who we still miss dearly. Let me say again, for the umpteenth time, that Facebook is like a ghost town without their insights, polemics, ironies & wit.
Regarding India legalizing the persecution of Muslims, one Kashmiri said: “They were looking for the Gujarat model; they ended up with the Kashmiri model.”
There are so many incisive & brilliant comments made by so many Kashmiri & Indian friends about the protests in India that they should be collected as part of the historic record. Makes me confident in my senior years that hope & commitment to resistance against injustice & inequality remain strong.
“Those who are creating violence can be identified by their clothes itself”.
–Modi on the protests against the Citizenship Act & NRC
This is an important post by Kashmiri Amir Malik about Indian protesters who are decidedly not drawing the right conclusions from the legal exclusion of Muslims & from the violence against their protests:
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“Some non-serious pages on facebook apparently against amended Citizenship Act and some individuals have said “the police dealt with us in such a way as if we were terrorist”. Some even said, “we are not Kashmiri,” they added.
These kinds of statements are condemnable as they carry Indian state’s line. Besides, they also justify state’s brutality on innocents whom it frames as terrorists.
The second set of statement which says “we are not Kashmiri” is far more dangerous. It justifies army’s brutality on a civilization, entire population.
Indians getting a few bruises here in Delhi is bad, really very bad. But, those who have not lived under occupation have no idea what Kashmiris go through every day. They pay with their blood. You got to stop saying “this is not Kashmir”.
On how you can avoid making these kinds of statements, a little suggestion– avoid comparing your tragedy with that of Kashmiris or “terrorists”. Say what happened to you was brutal. And should not have happened.
How can you justify state-terror unleashed on “Kashmiri” or “terrorists” or “Maoist”. While speaking against police brutally on you, when did you become so brutal?”
–Amir Malik